Born
in Erinsborough in 1969, Jane Harris grew up in the shadow
of her glamorous mother, Amanda. Not wanting her daughter
to outshine her, Amanda always made sure that Jane was dressed
simple and dowdy. Her parents were so wrapped up in their
careers that they never had much time for Jane and as a result,
Jane always went to her grandmother, Nell
Mangel, if she had a problem. At the age of 16, she was
sent to stay with her nan at No. 32 Ramsay Street when her
parents went overseas on business. Living with her grandmother
was a mixture of things for Jane. On one hand, she was annoyed
at the way Mrs. Mangel ruled over her with a rod of iron but
at the same time, Jane was finally in a loving and stable
home - something she had never enjoyed before. It was here
in Ramsay Street that Jane became best friends with Charlene
Mitchell and her boyfriend, Scott
Robinson, and fell in love with Mike
Young from No. 28.

But
because of her plain image, studious nature and geeky glasses,
Jane was given the nickname of 'Plain Jane Superbrain' at
Erinsborough High School and lacked the confidence to even
speak to Mike. But Mike saw beneath her plain exterior and
asked her to the end of year school dance. A thrilled Jane
was given a makeover by neighbours Helen
Daniels and Daphne Clarke
and finally proved to the students of Erinsborough High that
she was more than just a brainbox. She and Mike started seeing
each other but Mrs. Mangel, believing Jane should only be
concentrating on her schoolwork and not boys, objected to
the relationship from the start. She banned Jane from seeing
Mike after Jane's arch-enemy at school, Sue Parker, began
sending poison pen letters about Mike to Mrs. Mangel. But
after Sue was exposed as a liar by Daphne - who was Mike's
legal guardian - Mrs. Mangel had no choice but to let Jane
and Mike continue seeing each other.

The
relationship between the two experienced plenty of turbulence,
such as the time Jane was lost in the bush with Charlene's
cousin, Shane Ramsay, and Mike
was jealous of the bond that developed between the two after
the experience. Jane underwent more difficulties with Mike
when his ex-girlfriend, Nikki Dennison, returned to Erinsborough
still believing she and Mike were an item. As Nikki sought
comfort from Mike over her mother's illness, Jane became increasingly
jealous but Mike soon made it clear to Nikki that he was in
love with Jane now and she joined her mother in America soon after.
Mike and Jane's relationship eventually ended
after Mike cheated on Jane while on a school trip to Canberra.

After
successfully completing her HSC, Jane deferred her place at
university to work as Paul Robinson's
secretary at the Daniels Corporation. It was here that Jane's
beauty finally got its chance to shine when she became the
first 'Lassiter's Girl', the model around whom an important
advertising campaign was built. Mrs. Mangel was horrified
that her granddaughter was taking part in something so tasteless,
but was primarily concerned that if a career in modelling
took off for Jane, it would take her further away from her
university place. It soon became clear, however, that university
was no longer part of Jane's ambition as her career with The
Daniels Corporation took off. Clients were impressed with
her looks, and her keen head for business, and it was obvious
that Jane would need no further education to make it in the
business world.

Just
as Jane's career was taking off, however, Amanda returned
to Erinsborough after Mrs. Mangel was hospitalised following
a heart attack. Glamorous Amanda couldn't stand the fact that
her once dowdy daughter was now even more attractive than
she was, and forced Jane into removing her make-up, tying
her hair back up, and wearing her glasses again. Jane's confidence
took a severe nosedive in the wake of her mother's return,
but Jane failed to see any bad in her mum, such was her delight
at having her home again. However, Amanda soon showed her
true colours when it turned out she was using Erinsborough
as a hideout in the wake of an insurance fraud, and she soon
left Jane in the care of Mrs. Mangel once again.

When
Scott Robinson needed help revising for his HSC retakes, he
turned to Jane for tutoring. Unbeknown to Scott, Jane had
had a crush on Scott ever since they were at school together
but she had always hidden her feelings since she knew Scott
and Charlene - now married - were devoted to eachother. But
at the time of the tutoring, Scott and Charlene's marriage
was going through a rocky patch and Scott confided in Jane
about his problems. Before long, they realised there was chemistry
between them and they kissed. Their clinch was witnessed by
Charlene's brother, Henry,
who forced the pair to come clean to Charlene. Hurt and betrayed
by two of the people closest to her, Charlene threw Scott
out and refused to speak to Jane. With a guilty conscience,
Jane jumped at the opportunity to leave Erinsborough for a
month on business. She was shocked, however, to find that
Scott and Charlene were still separated after her return.
In a last ditch effort to save the marriage, Jane knocked
on Charlene's door and told her that she was being foolish
to let Scott slip away and, bluffing, Jane threatened to take
Scott for herself unless Charlene acted fast. Charlene admitted
she still loved Scott and they got back together. But Jane
was still given the cold shoulder by Charlene, and decided
to leave Erinsborough for good when she was offered a job
with Rosemary Daniels in
the New York offices of The Daniels Corporation. But Jane
didn't want to leave her family and friends, and when she
had an accident on Mike's motorbike on the way to the airport,
Charlene rushed to her side and admitted she was wrong to
treat her so harshly. They reaffirmed their friendship and
Jane decided to stay in Erinsborough.

Jane
was furious when garage mechanic Tony Romeo used a photo of
her to send to his mother, passing her off as his fiancee.
And when Mrs. Romeo arrived in Erinsborough wanting to meet
Tony's fiancee, Jane forced Tony to tell his mother the truth.
Tony continued to pursue Jane even after his mother returned
to Perth, however, but she was not interested in a relationship
with him - particularly since he was after Sally
Wells too.

Mrs.
Mangel finally approved of a potential suitor for Jane when
their lodger Harold Bishop
married Madge Ramsay, and Harold's
son, David, fell madly in love with Jane while in town for
the wedding. Mrs. Mangel was delighted by David's pursuit
of Jane, even if Jane wasn't the slightest bit interested
in the idea of a relationship with him. But David eventually
realised that Jane was only interested in friendship and Mrs.
Mangel changed her mind about him after he had the audacity
to defend Madge following Mrs.Mangel's snide remarks about
his new stepmother.

When
Henry Ramsay found a gun buried in the Mangels' back garden,
Mrs. Mangel was forced to admit to Jane that it belonged to
her son - Jane's Uncle Joe. Joe had hidden the gun for
one of his mates years before, after he had held up a petrol
station, and Mrs. Mangel was so ashamed of her son's involvement
with the robbery, she disowned him. Jane felt the time was
right to track down Joe, and try and patch things up between
him and Mrs. Mangel. She and Henry finally succeeded in locating
Joe, but he was initially reluctant to speak to them. However,
he eventually came round, and after being reunited with Mrs.
Mangel, Joe moved into No. 32 with her and Jane.

Mrs.
Mangel left Erinsborough soon after for a new life in England,
after marrying retired dentist, John Worthington, and Joe
and Jane stayed on at No. 32. Jane initially had problems
with Joe's laziness and lack of interest in maintaining a
tidy house, but they eventually sorted out their differences
in time for the arrival of Joe's eight-year-old son Toby.

After
a business trip to the States, Jane stunned the residents
of Ramsay Street when she returned engaged to a wealthy American
businessman, Mark Granger. But Mark's snotty mother took
an instant dislike to Jane, and stunned her by asking Jane
not to marry Mark due to their class difference. Jane was
disgusted by her would-be mother-in-law's demand, and vowed
to continue with the engagement. But Rosemary, who often did
business with Mark in the States, tried to talk Jane out of
the marriage also, telling her she would be making a huge
mistake by marrying Mark. Jane eventually decided to call
off the engagement, but was bitter towards Rosemary as a result.
After Jane accused her of being jealous, Rosemary ordered
Paul to sack her, but Jane resigned before he could. However,
they eventually patched up their differences, and Jane returned
to work with Paul.

Jane's
next relationship came in the unlikely form of widower Des
Clarke. Their romance began after Des took Jane to the
hospital after she suffered an electric shock. Although there
was a slight age gap between the two, it was actually Des'
relationship to Mike that caused the couple's most problems.
Des - along with his late wife, Daphne, had been Mike's legal
guardian while he was still at school, and Mike was unable
to handle the fact that his ex-girlfriend was now going out
with Des. However, it soon became apparent that Mike was still
carrying feelings for Jane, and he did everything he could
to make her finish her relationship with Des. But Jane was
in love with Des, and when Des proposed to Jane, she accepted
and they became engaged. Mike had been away while the engagement
took place, and on his return, he was disgusted to find the
whole street gathered at the Robinson house to celebrate Des
and Jane's engagement. But after causing a scene at the party,
Jane was forced to finally have things out with Mike, and
once he accepted that she and Des were happy together, Mike
agreed to lay off them.

Joe
got engaged to Kerry Bishop
around the same time as Jane and Des, and the two couples
made plans to have a double wedding. But when Mrs. Mangel
suffered a heart attack while leaving England for the weddings,
Jane immediately made plans to fly over to the UK to be by
her nan's side. Des accepted Jane's decision, and she promised
to return as soon as Mrs. Mangel was better. However, Des
feared that Jane's departure from Ramsay Street was final,
and Jane called Des a few weeks later, to tell him she couldn't
go ahead with the wedding, and was going to settle in England
instead.